I was recently reading a publication by Cedarville University, a Christian college located in Ohio, and they published an article in the Cedarville Torch, vol. 29, no. 2, regarding their stance on Truth. Their board of trustess developed the following stance and I wanted to share it because I hold a similar viewpoint:

The Holy Scriptures, as found in the books contained in the Old and New Testaments, constitute a sure and certain revelation from God. The Scriptures are both inerrant (contain no error) and infallible (will not lead astray). The limitations in human ability and the ravages of sin interfere with our ability to interpret the Bible’s message, but the message is true and certain in its entirety. The great doctrines of the faith are given in the Holy Scriptures with such clarity that we can be wholly certain of these truths.”

There was an interesting follow up story today on hotair.com about the launch of an atheist ad campaign in the UK.http://hotair.com/archives/2009/01/06/the-obligatory-british-atheist-ad-campaign-really-taking-off-post/ Richard Dawkins has helped to finance an effort launched by Ariane Sherine to place banners on 800 buses running throughout the United Kingdowm.The slogan of the ad is, “There’s probably no God.So stop worrying and enjoy your life.”This remarkable campaign will likely have little, if any, negative effect on the Christian community and will most likely serve as a call to bring people to Christ.God has a unique way of taking the negative and shining a light on it for His will. Job 12:22

Let’s, for a second, examine the logic in this ad.The first sentence, “There is probably no God.”Wow.Pretty profound statement, though full of doubt and lacking wisdom.While I understand Mr. Dawkins and Ms. Sherine were not in favor of using the word “probably”, nevertheless that’s how the slogan reads.I would like to ask those of you who believe the message in this ad to ask yourselves what have you gained, or will you gain, by believing this?If you’re right, it really doesn’t matter, you gain nothing, and we’ll all die and head to the same place anyway.Fair enough.But what if you’re wrong?What if the “probably” becomes a maybe and the maybe a slim chance and so on?What then?I would argue that the consequences are so grave, that you can’t hinge your belief system, your values, yourself, on a “probably”.

Now what about the Christian beliefs.What if we’re wrong?What if my belief in the one true Savior is wrong?What if Jesus did not come to save the world from her sins?Luke 19:10 What will we truly lose by being wrong?Nothing.If we’re wrong we all wind up in the same place anyway.But if we’re right, if on the supposition that the Bible is the True Word of God, what glory there will be!For if we’re right, we’ll have all eternity with the King of Kings!

And what about the second part of the ad slogan, “So stop worrying and enjoy your life.”Hmmmm…Worry?Worry about what?The Bible says in Matthew 6:27, “Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” and again in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.Each day has enough trouble of its own.” So who’s worrying?You Mr. Dawkins?You Ms. Sherine?Worrying that the “probably” might not be right? What about the “enjoy your life” part to the slogan?Does that assume that those of us Christians cannot enjoy our lives?Or does it mean that everyone, Christians and atheists alike should abandon their inner (God-given) morality of right vs. wrong and live a life of debauchery?This second clause of the sentence actually makes sense.We know the Bible says not to worry, but with the hope of all things eternal, the faith in a loving God who sent His Son to die for our sins, therein lies true enjoyment of life.True Peace.

While this story might not interest everyone, I for one would like to say thank you.Thank you Mr. Dawkins.Thank you Ms. Sherine for allowing God to be relevant and placed in the mainstream news.Thank you for creating an opportunity for Him to shine his Light and reveal the Truth. John 14:6 I’d like those of you who read this to truly search inside yourselves.Think about that ad slogan.Which side has everything to lose and which side has everything to gain?What will you choose to follow?A bus?Or a Savior?The Bible tells us in Joshua 24:15, “But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then CHOOSE for yourselves this day whom you will serve.…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

Who says the housing market is down?The financial market is a mess, uncertainty with a new administration coming in, Israel battling with Hamas, Real Pirates of the Cari…Gulf of Aden, now is the perfect time to build your house or better yet refurbish your current one.Before I jump into other topics on my blog, I wanted to first lay the foundation for it, much like you will do with your house.For this foundation though, I’ll be talking about something more solid than bricks, block, and mortar, I’m talking about the absolute Truth, the Bible.Now before you bail on me thinking this will be another religious rant blog, hang in there for a sec and keep reading.

Most people’s first impression when they hear the Bible is probably one that’s been formed through a preconceived notion about someone they’ve met who’s proclaimed themselves a Christian or someone else attempting to force the Bible on them when they simply weren’t ready.But let’s first look at the bible as a “text” to better understand its truth.If you were to separate the “religious” truth from the Bible, there would be absolutely no doubt of its historical accuracy in the secular world.The problem is that since it documents the life of Christ and is subsequently the foundation for Christianity many people immediately dismiss it and perhaps even lump it in with other religious texts like the Koran or the Tripitaka that lack historical accuracy.

Let’s take a minute a review the actual facts.Archeologists continue to find evidence that proves the Bible is historically accurate.One such example is the Elba archive, found in Syria in the 1970’s that dates back to 2300 B.C.Just watch the History Channel and you’ll see endless building site locations depicted in the Bible that are found, including the palace at Jericho and King Hezekiah’s tunnels through Jerusalem.In fact, over 25,000 places mentioned in the Bible have been discovered and documented, even the controversial Land of Canaan.So if there’s undisputed archeological and scientific data being discovered almost daily that confirms the Bible’s accuracy, why then would we consider the spiritual truth’s contained within it to be anything less than completely accurate?

The Bible tells us it is the Word of God, inspired and recorded by men of God, II Timothy 3:16.If we were to look at the Bible in its 2 Testaments, Old and New, we would find 7 division’s.Law: Genesis-Deuteronomy (5 books), O.T. History: Joshua-Esther (12 books), Poetry: Job-Song of Solomon (5 books), O.T. Prophecy: Isaiah-Malachi (Major: 5 books, Minor: 12 books), N.T. History: Matthew-Acts (Gospel’s: 4 books, Acts), Epistles: Romans-Jude (21 books), N.T. Prophecy: Book of Revelation.Since we briefly touched on some of the historical accuracies and the Poetry and Epistle’s (or letters) leave no room for accuracy debate, let’s focus on the prophecies.I’ll briefly discuss what history says about their accuracy.

There are over 2000 accurately fulfilled prophecies, including over 300 regarding the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ (www.faithfacts.org) Isaiah 53 paints such a picture and it was written 700 years before Christ’s birth!Other historical texts, such as those of Plato (7 copies) and Ceasar (10 copies) have gone unquestioned despite the fact they were written with over a 1000 year gap between copies.In contrast, there are over 24,000 manuscripts or portions of the New Testament that are dated 100 to 300 years later than the original. To continue examining the accuracy of the prophecies, you need to look no farther than the times in which they were written.Prophecy was not taken lightly in biblical times.If your prophecy was wrong or you gave a false report, you were killed, period!Take for example Daniel, who was revered by King Nebuchadnezzar because of his God-given ability to interpret dreams and visions.The king had a dream that he wanted revealed and he requested many people to interpret it, including magicians, astrologers, sorcerers, and Chaldeans (Daniel 2:2).The king stated in Daniel 2:5 that those who could not interpret the dream would be “cut to pieces”.So prophecy, or dream/vision interpretation was a serious matter back then.Daniel successfully interpreted the dream and prophesied about the kingdoms future (Daniel 2:47). Despite these grave consequences, the prophets and prophecies of the Bible remain because of their truth.

Although it was written by about 40 different writers, throughout 66 books, over a span of around 1500 years the central theme in the Bible remains true; God’s eternal love and gift of salvation from sinthrough the life, death, and resurrection of His Son Jesus (John 3:16).I hope you’ve stayed with me through this process of laying the foundation of truth for our new year and more importantly think on the words from Joshua 1:8, “Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

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